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Indias ruling odd couple fall out

TO JUDGE by the political gossip doing the rounds in Delhi’s stultifying pre-monsoon heat, the storm clouds are gathering over an experiment in government by a prime minister who is not exactly in charge and a “Mother India” who is not exactly in office.

Wise, courtly and renowned for his integrity, Manmohan Singh was a surprise choice for the premiership after the Congress party won an unexpected victory at the general election last year and formed a coalition with support from the left.

Many felt that by rights the crown belonged to Sonia Gandhi, party president and the regal heiress to India’s greatest political dynasty. She ran the campaign, inspired the faithful, promised deliverance to the poor and evicted the Hindu chauvinists of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) from office.

But Gandhi’s Italian origins aroused violent antipathy among extremists. Threats against her life brought back memories of the political assassinations